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A Talk With Rick Telander Who Ruminates on the Marvin Hagler That He Knew
Sunday, March 13, marked the first anniversary of the death of Marvelous Marvin Hagler who was 66 when he passed away at his home in Bartlett, New Hampshire. During a 14-year career as a pro that began in 1973, Hagler had 67 professional fights, winning 62 with three defeats and two draws with 52 wins coming via knockout or stoppage.
Hagler experienced many highs and a few lows, one of which truly stood out. The date was April 6, 1987 and the site was Caesars Palace in Las Vegas when he took on Sugar Ray Leonard, who over the course of 12 rounds, edged Hagler on a split decision.
As it turned out, this would be the last time Hagler, the undisputed middleweight champion from 1980 through 1987, would step into a ring, and it surprised many.
Three years later, Rick Telander, then with Sports Illustrated, paid Hagler a visit in Milan, Italy, where he was living and working.
Telander’s story appeared in the July 2, 1990, issue with Hagler smiling on the cover and the headline blaring “It’s A Marvelous Life” and the subhead reading “Pugilist-Turned-Actor Marvin Hagler At Home In Milan – Far Away From Sugar Ray.”
On the surface, and according to Telander, Hagler seemed at peace with his life. “He was making the best of that necessary transition, that little death we all athletes must experience – the end of a career or dream that is based on and dependent on one’s youth,” he said.
That middleweight clash with two belts on the line was razor close and had some ringside observers siding with Hagler and others favoring Leonard.
Judge Lou Filippo had Hagler winning 115-113 while Dave Moretti scored it 115-113 in favor of Leonard. The most lopsided score came from JoJo Guerra, who had Leonard claiming a 118-110 victory.
Ron Borges of the Boston Globe, ESPN’s Al Bernstein, Jerry Izenberg of the Newark Star-Ledger, and Pat Putnam of Sports Illustrated were among those sitting close to the action who scored the fight for Hagler. They all had it 115-113.
Those who felt Leonard won included ABC’s Howard Cosell and Michael Katz of the New York Daily News. Both had it 117-112.
Others who gave Leonard the decision were Sports Illustrated’s William Nack (116-114) and Gil Clancy of CBS (115-113).
Some saw it deadlocked including HBO’s Larry Merchant and Dave Anderson of the New York Times. Each had it 114-114. Because so many at ringside had differing views, it’s clear the fight could have gone to either man.
In all likelihood, Hagler, born in Newark, New Jersey, and raised in Brockton, Massachusetts, had enough talent, skill and determination that he could have continued to box and perhaps avenge that setback to Leonard. In fact, Top Rank CEO Bob Arum offered Hagler a minimum of $15 million for a rematch, but Hagler declined.
What is Rick Telander’s sense of why there wasn’t a second fight?
“That remains a mystery. It is possible he actually was content with quitting boxing, with moving on to a new life, a new career, a wholly new chapter in a new land,” he offered. “And money had nothing to do with it. Some people must be like that. It seems improbable. Freddie Roach once told me no boxer he ever trained – including, of course, himself – ever left as champion. Perhaps Hagler truly was at peace with his legacy and ambition. It’s also possible he knew he was done as a fighter, that he could never beat Leonard or these “pretty boy” fighters coming along.”
Telander, the lead sports columnist at the Chicago Sun-Times, continued: “I could never tell,” he said. “And I think those that make a declaration about his intentions and mental state are only speculating, devising judgment from their own states of mind and extrapolations.”
Still, having to live with that loss, a fight Hagler believed he won, had to have played with his ego?
“I know it was a heavy burden on him. It was the end, or the start, or something powerful in his life,” Telander said. “He never went back. Never turned around. Never said he’d kill Leonard in a rematch, never boasted. He just left the fight game. That is some kind of catalyst.”
Telander, who has had eight stories included in the Best American Sports Writing anthologies and was the 2020 recipient of the Dan Jenkins Medal for Excellence in Sportswriting, said Hagler seemed to enjoy interacting with people he would meet in Italy.
Had Hagler in fact gone from fierce warrior to gentle soul practically overnight?
“I don’t think he was a changed man. I think for the most part he was always that way. I think a kind of “split personality’’ in athletes in violent sports is way more common than most fans and observers know,” said Telander, a one-time football standout at Northwestern University who was drafted in 1971 by the Kansas City Chiefs in the eighth round.
“I know lots of football players, linebackers, headhunters and the like, who are vicious, what we might call “killers” on the field but are pussycats off it. The athletes who can’t turn aggression off, or who are only brutal and nasty in life and everywhere, who aren’t able to socialize themselves – those are the ones who get in trouble. Our prisons are filled with them. It’s a very thin line to walk. The best do it naturally. Others must work at it. I think Hagler, like many boxers, realized the ring was his special place to become that other thing, and outside it he could turn the rage off.
I could be wrong. George Foreman had a seeming personality change – from a nasty, nonverbal thug to a smiling sweet guy – near the end of his youthful career. Then he got back in the ring and could be aging George Foreman with an attitude, while selling grills on the side. Hagler, I feel, had that in him too. He just never re-entered the ring.”
Was it better that Hagler left the big stage fully intact and with a brain that still functioned?
“He may have gotten out to keep his wits intact. Leonard shocked him – he says he never was hurt, and he likely was not. But Leonard also may have shown him how close he was to a serious disaster,” Telander said. “He didn’t know about CTE back then, but he certainly knew about pugilistica dementia – ‘punch drunk.’’’ Old, pitiable, punch-drunk boxers were everywhere.”
Telander, the author or co-author of 10 books including the classic “Heaven Is A Playground,” has interviewed some of the biggest names in sports, but said Hagler is one of his favorites.
“I’d put him right near the very top, maybe at the top. That is because I talked to him when he was in an entirely different country, speaking a different language, in a different craft than the one he’d utilized to become rich and famous,” he said. “He was a different thing. He was reborn.
He was, in certain lights, a loser on the run. In other ways, he was a big winner on a new adventure. He was in control of his new life, and for many ex-athletes, that is rare.”
Like so many, Telander is torn between the violence in boxing and whether it belongs in a civilized society.
“Boxing is a paradox for me. I think it’s terrible and should be banned (like MMA) – attempting to kill another man’s body and/or brain – what can be right about that? But still I like, even at times love, the sport,” he said. “It shouldn’t be that way. It’s embarrassing to feel this way. But it is such a difficult, primitive, beautiful, hideous, fascinating sport – what can I say?”
Regardless of how one feels on this issue, the manly sport, although often cruel and certainly unforgiving, can also save individuals like Hagler and so many others from a life of poverty and ruin.
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Avila Perspective, Chap. 303: Spotlights on Lightweights and More
Those lightweights.
Whether junior lights, super lights or lightweights, it’s the 130-140 divisions where most of boxing’s young stars are found now or in the past.
Think Oscar De La Hoya, Sugar Shane Mosley and Floyd Mayweather.
Floyd Schofield (17-0, 12 KOs) a Texas product, hungers to be a star and takes on Mexico’s Rene Tellez Giron (20-3, 13 KOs) in a 12-round lightweight bout on Saturday, Nov. 2, at the Virgin Hotels Las Vegas in Las Vegas, Nevada.
DAZN will stream the Golden Boy Promotion card that includes a female undisputed flyweight championship match pitting Argentina’s Gabriela Alaniz and Gabriela Fundora.
Like a young lion looking to flex, Schofield (pictured on the left) is eager to meet all the other young lions and prove they’re not equal.
“I’ve been in the room with Shakur, Tank. I want to give everyone a good fight. I feel like my preparation is getting better, I work hard, I’ve dedicated my whole life to this sport,” said Schofield naming fellow lightweights Shakur Stevenson and Gervonta “Tank” Davis.
Now he meets Mexico’s Tellez who has never been stopped.
“I’m willing to do whatever it takes,” said Tellez.
Even in Las Vegas.
Verona, New York
Meanwhile, in upstate New York, a WBC junior lightweight title rematch finds Robson Conceicao (19-2-1, 9 KOs) looking to prove superior to former titlist O’Shaquie Foster (22-3, 12 KOs) on Saturday, Nov. 2, at the Turning Stone Resort and Casino in Verona, N.Y. ESPN+ will stream the Top Rank fight card.
Last July, Conceicao and Foster clashed and after 12 rounds the title changed hands from Foster to the Brazilian by split decision.
“I feel that a champion is a fighter who goes out there and doesn’t run around, who looks for the fight, who tries to win, and doesn’t just throw one or two punches and then moves away,” said Conceicao.
Foster disagrees.
“I hope he knows the name of the game is to hit and not get hit. That’s the name of the game,” said Foster.
Also on the same card is lightweight contender Raymond Muratalla (21-0, 16 KOs) who fights Mexico’s Jesus Perez Campos (25-5, 18 KOs).
Perez recently defeated former world champion Jojo Diaz last February in California.
“We’re made for challenges. I like challenges,” said Perez.
Muratalla likes challenges too.
“I think these fights are the types of fights I need to show my skills and to prove I deserve those title fights,” said Fontana’s Muratalla.
Female Undisputed Flyweight Championship
WBA, WBC and WBO flyweight titlist Gabriela “La Chucky” Alaniz (15-1, 6 KOs meets IBF titlist Gabriela Fundora (14-0, 6 KOs) on Saturday Nov. 2, at the Virgin Hotels Las Vegas in Las Vegas, Nevada. DAZN will stream the clash for the undisputed flyweight championship.
Argentina’s Alaniz clashed twice against former WBA, WBC champ Marlen Esparza with their first encounter ending in a dubious win for the Texas fighter. In fact, three of Esparza’s last title fights were scored controversially.
But against Alaniz, though they fought on equal terms, Esparza was given a 99-91 score by one of the judges though the world saw a much closer contest. So, they fought again, but the rematch took place in California. Two judges deemed Alaniz the winner and one Esparza for a split-decision win.
“I’m really happy to be here representing Argentina. We are ready to fight. Nothing about this fight has to do with Marlen. So, I hope she (Fundora) is ready. I am ready to prepare myself for the great fight of my life,” said Alaniz.
In the case of Fundora, the extremely tall American fighter at 5’9” in height defeated decent competition including Maria Santizo. She was awarded a match with IBF flyweight titlist Arely Mucino who opted for the tall youngster over the dangerous Kenia Enriquez of Mexico.
Bad choice for Mucino.
Fundora pummeled the champion incessantly for five rounds at the Inglewood Forum a year ago. Twice she battered her down and the fight was mercifully stopped. Fundora’s arm was raised as the new champion.
Since that win Fundora has defeated Christina Cruz and Chile’s Daniela Asenjo in defense of the IBF title. In an interesting side bit: Asenjo was ranked as a flyweight contender though she had not fought in that weight class for seven years.
Still, Fundora used her reach and power to easily handle the rugged fighter from Chile.
Immediately after the fight she clamored for a chance to become undisputed.
“It doesn’t get better than this, especially being in Las Vegas. This is the greatest opportunity that we can have,” said Fundora.
It should be exciting.
Fights to Watch
Sat. ESPN+ 2:50 p.m. Robson Conceicao (19-2-1) vs O’Shaquie Foster (22-3).
Sat. DAZN 5 p.m. Floyd Schofield (17-0) vs Rene Tellez Giron (20-3); Gabriela Alaniz (15-1) vs Gabriela Fundora (14-0).
Photo credit: Cris Esqueda / Golden Boy
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Bakhram Murtalaziev was the Fighter of the Month in October
As we close the book on October, let’s look back at the month’s stellar performances. Kenshiro Teraji added another exclamation point to his brilliant career with an 11th-round stoppage of Cristofer Rosales. England’s Jack Catterall, considered no more than a decent domestic-level talent for most of his career, showed that he had been underrated with a comprehensive 12-round decision over declining Regis Prograis. But the top performance, by a landslide, was delivered by Bakhram Murtalaziev who annihilated Tim Tszyu on Oct. 19 in Orlando, Florida.
Murtalaziev was undefeated (22-0, 16 KOs) and the reigning IBF junior middleweight champion, but he was the underdog and the “B” side. As champions go, and there are roughly five dozen across the 17 weight divisions, the California-based Russian ranked among the least well-known. He had won his title in Berlin with an 11th-round stoppage of an unexceptional 38-year-old German-Ecuadorian campaigner, Jack Culcay, and he would be making his first defense.
Managed by Egis Klimas who also handles Oleksandr Usyk and Vasiliy Lomachenko, among others, Bakhram Murtalaziev came from a good barn in the vernacular of a horseplayer, but on paper that alone was insufficient to get him over the hump against Tim Tszyu who a few short months earlier was widely considered the best 154-pound boxer in the world.
That was before he met up with Sebastian Fundora who blemished his record, but that setback could have been written off as a fluke.
As we recall, Tszyu was scheduled to fight Keith Thurman in the initial PBC offering on Amazon Prime Video, but Thurman suffered a biceps injury in training and Fundora was bumped up from the undercard to fill the breach. With only 12 days’ notice, Tim Tszyu went from fighting a five-foot-seven fighter who fights out of an orthodox stance to fighting a southpaw who stood almost a full foot taller. The “Towering Inferno” has his limitations, but poses a special problem to anyone, let alone an opponent with little time to formulate a good game plan.
Tszyu was hampered in the Fundora fight by a gash on his hairline that hampered his vision. The injury happened in the second round when he ducked under Fundora and walked into an elbow. The gash bled copiously throughout the fight and yet the best that Fundora could do was win a split (albeit fair) decision.
To say that Tszyu failed to rebound from the Fundora misadventure would be putting it mildly. Murtalaziev steamrolled him, knocking him to the canvas four times in all before Tszyu’s corner tossed in the towel at the 1:55 mark of the third stanza. It was painful to watch. Referee Chris Young was faulted for allowing the match to continue as long as it did. Compounding Tszyu’s misery, his celebrated father, a first ballot Hall of Famer, was ringside. Kostya Tszyu hadn’t seen his oldest son fight in the flesh since Tim’s pro debut in 2016.
Although the dichotomy is imperfect, Tim Tszyu, who turns 30 on Saturday, is more of a puncher than a boxer. That may work against him so far as clawing his way back to a position of prominence. The noted boxing coach Stephen “Breadman” Edwards, a keen student of the history of boxing in the modern era, expressed this sentiment in a Q and A story for Boxing Scene. “Destructive fighters usually don’t come back to full capacity after bad KO losses,” he said, citing John Mugabi, Mike Tyson, George Foreman, Sonny Liston, and Naseem Hamed to illustrate his point. Moreover, added Edwards, “No one will ever be afraid of him again.”
But there were two stories that emerged from the Murtalaziev-Tszyu fight. Tim Tszyu crashed, but Bakhram Murtalaziev emerged from obscurity, announcing his presence (pardon the cliché) as a force to be reckoned with. As for his next assignment, the best guess is that it will come against Sebastian Fundora or Errol Spence Jr. who are expected to meet early next year. And based on Murtalaziev’s stunning performance in Orlando, it will be impossible to bet against him.
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Foreman-Moorer: 30 Years Later
Foreman-Moorer: 30 Years Later
By TSS SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT JAMIE REBNER — In sports, middle-aged athletes are not supposed to beat opponents who are half their age and in their athletic primes. Only the greatest ones can use guile, technique, and experience to compensate for the dulling of speed, reflexes, and athleticism that have unavoidably eroded with time.
That is why George Foreman’s feat of reclaiming the heavyweight title at 45 is so impressive. It was thirty years ago this coming Tuesday, Nov 5, 1994, that Foreman scored a monumental upset in knocking out Michael Moorer to win back the title he had lost twenty years prior against Muhammad Ali in The Rumble in the Jungle. In doing so, Big George became the oldest heavyweight champion, breaking the record previously held by Jersey Joe Walcott, who had won the title at 38.
When Foreman beat Moorer, he was in the twilight of his second career, a comeback that began in 1987. George had retired in 1977 after losing to Jimmy Young and experiencing a spiritual awakening in his locker room. That led him to become a minister and devote himself to his family and congregation. During his retirement, he opened a youth center in Houston, which required much financial support, prompting him to return to the ring.
After winning 24 straight fights from 1987-1990, Foreman lost his first title shot by decision to Evander Holyfield in 1991. He rebounded from that loss with three more wins before getting a crack at the WBO title against Tommy Morrison in 1993. But his performance against Morrison was disappointing and he lost another decision. After that, Foreman was out of the ring for 17 months before he was gifted another title shot against Moorer.
Foreman got that gift because Moorer, due to his sullen demeanor and curtness with the media, was not a draw with the fans. He was also an unproven champion, having beaten Holyfield for two belts only seven months prior. So. Moorer needed a name opponent who could bring in the crowds for his first title defense. And the other top heavyweights like Oliver McCall (WBC champ), Lennox Lewis, and Riddick Bowe didn’t have close to Foreman’s drawing power. So. deserving or not, Foreman was chosen as the challenger to make a fight that would be worth the public’s attention and pockets.
Even Foreman was surprised by getting selected to fight Moorer. “I never in my wildest imagination thought I’d get a title shot again,” he told Associated Press sports columnist Tim Dahlberg. Still, George was determined to make his third time a charm.
But as motivated as George was, there was an irrefutable gap in speed between himself and the much younger champion. From the opening bell, Moorer used his superior quickness and reflexes to make Foreman look stiff and slow. And although George landed punches early on, he fired them one at a time while Moorer countered with multiple shots. But despite Moorer’s advantage in connects, his trainer Teddy Atlas advised him from the get-go not to stand in front of Foreman and make himself a stationary target for a right-hand bomb.
But Moorer failed to heed that advice as he continued to outwork Foreman in the middle rounds. Although he was winning, Moorer’s overconfidence kept him at close quarters, and he continued to circle unwisely to his left and into Foreman’s dangerous right hand. And despite absorbing many quality shots, Foreman never appeared hurt or discouraged thanks to his granite chin and unyielding resolve. He was determined to win and he was willing to walk through as many flush shots as he needed to do so.
With Moorer content to stay in range, Foreman gladly returned his firepower and he landed some telling right crosses, uppercuts, and plenty of thudding body blows during the battle. And while Moorer continued to pile up points and rounds, as long as George was marching forward and throwing shots, he had a puncher’s chance.
And with a minute to go in round ten, that punch came. After missing a three-punch combination, Foreman scored with a one-two, with the right hand landing on the forehead. He immediately repeated that combination but this time aimed the right hand lower on Moorer’s jaw. That slight adjustment caused his bulldozer right to collide perfectly with Moorer’s chin, sending the champion crashing to the canvas and sprawled onto his back. The champion couldn’t beat the count, and just like that, the fight was over, Moorer’s short-lived title run ending before it ever truly began.
With a single, shattering blow, Foreman etched his name into boxing history. Wearing the same trunks from Zaire 20 years before, he was now heavyweight champion of the world once again. It was a shocking result that defied conventional wisdom since seldom do 45-year-old boxers score knockouts over champions in their athletic primes. But Foreman reminded us that he was anything but your typical quadragenarian. He was special, and he had two distinct heavyweight championship reigns to prove it.
—
About the author:
Jamie Rebner lives in Toronto, Canada. He has been a freelance boxing writer since 2016 and his writing has appeared in The Fight City, Boxing News Online, The Ring, and Ringside Seat magazine. His Substack blog is Fight Fundamental, and he is currently writing a book about George Foreman’s comeback. He is also a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. Follow him on Twitter @J_NReb.
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